Activation And Syncing
The iPhone requires iTunes 7.3 to sync information with your desktop. It synchronizes quite a range of stuff: address book contacts, calendars, music, photos, podcasts, and videos. You can select which of your information you want to synchronize -- for example, selected photos or playlists or calendars.

It syncs on the Mac with the Address Book, iCal, Entourage, Apple Mail, iTunes, iPhoto, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Photoshop Elements. It syncs on Windows with Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, iTunes, Safari, and any folders containing image files.

	(click image for larger view) The iPhone startup screen View the image gallery: A Visual Tour Of The iPhone View the image gallery: Unboxing The iPhone

I synchronized the iPhone with the Address Book and iCal on an Intel-based iMac. I encountered a few fiddly little problems involving confusing error messages, but nothing serious -- I just guessed what to do next, and I always guessed right. I expect most users will have the same experience. I also had difficulty getting the iMac to see the phone -- I had to plug it in and unplug it a couple of times before it started to sync.

Once the sync begins, the iPhone walks you through a wizard to sign up to AT&T. If you have an existing iTunes account, you can use that for payment, and if you have an existing cell phone number, you can move it over to your iPhone.

You can have any cell phone carrier you want -- so long as it's AT&T. You need to get a two-year plan.

I signed up for the lowest-price plan: $59.99 per month for 450 minutes of talk time, 200 visual voice mail messages, and 5,000 text messages (all plans support unlimited data consumption). That's plenty for me. The highest-priced standard plan is $99.99 per month for up to 1,350 minutes and unlimited SMS messages. If you go to the rate plans page on Apple.com, you'll find several plans for cell phone addicts. The highest price is $219.99 for up to 6,000 minutes, which is more than three hours a day -- more than enough for the most avid phone addicts.

I had no trouble activating the phone, although, according to reports on the Internet, others were not so lucky. The iPhone synced my data in about an hour.

When you power on the iPhone you see an image of the Earth. That's the default wallpaper; you can switch it to whatever photo you like. At the bottom of the screen is the image of a slider and the text "slide to unlock." You touch the image of the slider with your fingertip and slide to the right to unlock your iPhone.

Let's go right to the Web, because I find that to be the best part of the iPhone.